American Reunion: Same Ol' Sex and Comedy

The gross-out humor and the much-appreciated nudity are still there, of course, but the gut check perils of being old is what American Reunion is about. As in: the lack of spark and sex in a decade-long marriage, the patchiness of a safe and stable home life, the difficulty in riding the bandwagon. We can cite 10 other movies with a similar premise, but then again we’re just glad to see these guys together again.

American Pie Reunion continues to follow the lives of Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) – married and domesticated, capped with a sex life long extinguished by the birth of their son. The rest of them folks aren’t doing any better either: Kevin and Oz are living in mediocrity. Introvert friend Finch has been missing in action for years. Even breakout jock Stifler finds himself failing as a grown-up.

So when the East Great Falls batch ‘99 came-a-calling for a 13th-year high school reunion, the upshot is, among other things, consequential.

The gist is foreseeable – a group of struggling grown men taking one more shot at their former glory. Glory, in this case, is a pack of high school virgins looking to get laid by any means possible. Now walking around as a couple of 30-year-olds with larger than life responsibilities, partying and romancing women isn’t as easy anymore. Not like they were ever good at it back then anyway.

We’re not about to speak ill of the movie; we worshipped this franchise, for crying out loud. We’re relieved American Pie is able to resurrect itself out of the direct-to-video dump it has been in all these years. Seeing Biggs’ awkward mug in the poster is the only way we’re watching and calling it an American Pie sequel.

It strikes us nevertheless that nothing has changed. No sense of moral fruition whatsoever. We’re not even sure if we saw anything fresh here, but that’s fine by us. The movie’s melancholy is precious; nothing beats the singular feeling of console and familiarity. Reunion manages to capture the same old feeling of the 1999 sex comedy. Too much to a fault, actually.

Consider it a long due get-together. See the dudes who originally coined the term MILF back in the first installment. The return of the ginger-haired horn dog Chuck “Sherminator” Sherman. There’s even a cameo from Shannon Elizabeth, still very much living up to her sex symbol status at 38 years old. Might as well prepare your own character checklist, because everyone is present.

Amongst all things mentioned above come two scorching hot revelations in Katrina Bowden and Ali Cobrin. Hey, two new dynamics here after all! Bowden (30 Rock) plays a Los Angeles bimbo who parties like one of them girls in Entourage, while Cobrin (The Hole) portrays a cute high school senior with a sweet face and perfectly round br…gotta love the nudity. More than anything, it's about time we commend the casting director for doing a mighty fine job all these years. We mean, who chooses these hot girls?

In hindsight, the flick cashes in on the theory that a new generation of kids is trying to lose their virginity, with an old batch of jocks more than willing to give them a helping hand. American Pie has gone through enough lackluster incarnations that it manages to go back to being good again. It has surpassed the cycle of franchise mediocrity, and this is why you owe it to yourself to check out the final installment. MILF! MILF! MILF!